Screenshot from Facebook. Temple Beth Torah in Ventura was vandalized with a swastika spray-painted on the synagogue’s sign over the weekend.
The graffiti was reported at around 3 p.m. on Friday, although it was believed to have occurred on either Thursday or Friday. Police are investigating the vandalism as a possible hate crime.
Rabbi Lisa Hochberg-Miller wrote in a statement on the temple’s Facebook page, “Swastikas painted on our Temple sign was met with so much anger, sadness, and outcry from our non Jewish Community as well as the Jewish community, that I know that ‘love over hate’ prevails.”
“Anti-Semitism is not new, but it is also not inevitable,” Hochberg-Miller said. “Being quiet and complacent cannot educate others to the scourge of racism in our community. Thank you to the many local rabbis, ministers and pastors in Ventura who have reached out with love and support to Temple Beth Torah.”
Hochberg-Miller added that the swastika is no longer on the sign and the temple “continues to be an active vibrant place with doors open to all people of good heart.”
“We are grateful to the Ventura Police Department for their support and assistance in this vandalism and thank our Temple neighbors who saw the graffiti and called the police,” Hochberg-Miller’s post concluded.
People with information on the matter are encouraged to contact the Ventura Police Department at (805) 339-4488 or (805) 339-4416.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.